


Flying with Broken Wings

by Shiyaki



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Animagus, Awkward Flirting, M/M, Supply Runs, Walkers (Walking Dead)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-03-01 19:28:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13301652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiyaki/pseuds/Shiyaki
Summary: With every failed attempt to hit the bird with an arrow or blade and every mocking glint from dark eyes, Daryl's efforts had doubled, if only to sooth his bruised ego. The day he had finally admitted defeat, the bird of prey had lived up to its name and gifted him a pigeon, like a cat would bring back a dead mouse.In the end it would gift him a lot more, he just didn't know it yet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have the impuls control of a five-year-old sometimes. This fic is the proof. This was not meant to exist. At least not before I finished a few of my old fics. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, because I started to watch The Walking Dead and then the plot bunnies attacked.

Daryl wasn’t in the habit of missing. His accuracy with the crossbow was damn near perfect and he wasn’t half bad at throwing knives either. All that ceased to matter, however, when it came to one fucking bird that had avoided being dinner for the past month.

His first encounter with it had been a few weeks after the Greene farm had been overrun by walkers. It had sat on the window sill of the house they had designated their abode for the night. Back then the brunet had been annoyed, when the ball of feathers had avoided his attacks and disappeared into the night, but he hadn’t lost any sleep over it… metaphorically speaking.  Nowadays none of them were particularly well-rested.

After that first night, the bird (a merlin, which had probably migrated south for the winter) had appeared every other day in whichever house they were spending the night in. With every failed attempt to hit it with an arrow or blade and every mocking glint from dark eyes, his efforts had doubled, if only to sooth his bruised ego. The day he had finally admitted defeat, the bird of prey had lived up to its name and gifted him a pigeon, like a cat would bring back a dead mouse.

More had followed.

That wasn’t normal behavior for a wild animal, neither was keeping him (and only him) company during his watch or hopping onto his shoulder to groom his hair. Maybe it had been some sort of pet or used for falconry? Either way, the rest of the group found it hilarious and teased him every chance they got about his new friend.  He grumbled and glared at them, but honestly didn’t mind the semi-regular companionship.

“Hey Daryl, your buddy is back,” Glenn announced with a shit-eating grin and carefully opened the window after making sure no walkers were close-by. The merlin swooped inside and settled on the hunter’s leather clad shoulder, where it promptly started to tug on Daryl’s hair.

“What, no present this time? That an invitation to make ya the meal?” The brunet mocked softly and got an especially hard tug in response. Daryl smirked, but raised his hand to offer a placating breast scratch, something the bird always reveled in. 

His fingers had barely grazed the soft feathers, when a knock on the front door put all of them on edge. Daryl reached for his crossbow as the other’s scrambled for their guns or knives and crept to one of the windows facing out front. He nudged the heavy curtain aside and peered outside.

“It’s a guy,” the brunet hissed towards Rick, who’d got into position next to the door. “Otherwise looks clear.”

The former cop nodded and waited for Daryl to step in-between him and the rest of the group, before he raised his gun and carefully opened the door with his other hand. The man on the other side was middle-aged, with stern features and a nasty, albeit old scar on the side of his neck. At first glance he looked unarmed, but Daryl didn’t assume that to be the case for even a second. In this shit world even children had means to protect themselves.

“What do you want?” Rick inquired, voice tense but the finger curled around the trigger of his gun steady. The visitor stared into his eyes for a long moment, then his gaze wandered to Daryl to repeat the stare down.  Afterwards, he paused shortly on the bird, which was still calmly sitting on the hunter’s shoulder, and finally returned his attention to the leader of their group.

“Good evening, my name is Severus Snape and I am here to issue an invitation for sanctuary,” the man announced. The British accent took them by surprise just as much as the words did. Sanctuary? Was there even such a thing left? “During the last few weeks we’ve been vetting you, a procedure we partake in with all potential newcomers to make sure they’re a good fit. If you decide to accept, you will have, amongst other amenities, regular meals, reliable defense against both the undead and the living and medical care.”

Without even looking, Daryl knew Rick was tempted to go along with it, no questions asked. They had been constantly on the move, gone hungry more often than not and barely slept longer than a few hours at a time. Under normal circumstances those issues maybe wouldn’t have cut it, but Lori was also starting to show. Another few month and the woman’d have serious problems with walking, let alone running from walkers. Not to mention the negative effect the stress and malnutrition was probably having on the baby.

“How do we know this ain’t a trap?” Daryl pressed with a suspicious squint and an arrow still unwaveringly pointed at the other brunet. It was just too convenient that luck knocked on their door at sunset and offered them a secure roof over their head, especially when they hadn’t stayed at the same place for more than a night and seen neither hide nor hair of anyone who could’ve watched them.

“You only have my word,” the Brit replied levelly, seeming indifferent to their suspicion, but then he raised one dark eyebrow towards his hairline. “However, it may interest you that about a week ago we had two newcomers. One of them, a woman named Andrea, spoke of her former group. Apparently she got separated from them on a farm during an attack counting at least several hundred revenants. I assume that group is yours?”

Several gasps and muttering could be heard from the living room following _that_ revelation, though Daryl didn’t pay too much attention, because just then, for some reason, the merlin on his shoulders started to flap its wings in agitation and dug its talons deep enough into the leather vest to prick Dary’s skin beneath. At least it didn’t screech. Dary hushed it softly and after a moment the bird settled back down and carefully nipped his ear.

The man, Snape, studied their interaction with a peculiar look in his eyes, but didn’t comment.

 “We… _do_ know an Andrea, but we thought she’d died during the attack,” Rick admitted, his face a grimace riddled with guilt.

“You have the chance to reunite with her then but be that as it may, this concludes my visit. The Sanctuary is located about fifty miles to the West from this starting point. If you wish to come, Potter,” and here he honest-to-God nodded towards the bird in their midst “will lead you there. Good evening, gentlemen.” The man shallowly bowed his head to them in farewell and before they knew it, he turned on the spot and fucking vanished. Into. _Thin_. **_Air!_**

“I didn’t imagine that, right?” Rick choked out after a moment, his eyes still fixed on the spot where their visitor had stood seconds ago. “That wasn’t a hallucination?”

Daryl pushed him out of the way to close the door before the walkers had the chance to become aware of them.

“Ya didn’t or I did, too.”

Rick rubbed his eyes with a drawn-out sigh, glanced at the door for a long moment and finally went back into the former living room, where the rest of the group, who hadn’t seen the unexpected departure, was already discussing the new information. They were speculating if it was all a big hoax, a trap or the real deal, how a bird was supposed to lead them anywhere and another big topic was, of course, Andrea.

Meanwhile, Daryl shifted his crossbow back over his shoulder and contemplated the encounter. The guy had made a… well, not good but honest enough impression on him, so Daryl didn’t rule out the possibility of there actually being such a sanctuary in their vicinity and Andrea being there unharmed. It was up to Rick if they’d check it out, however.

His thoughts wandered to the disappearing act. It hadn’t been the first weird and unexplainable experience in his life, even if he seldom recounted them. He tried to from time to time, the most recent story being about the chupacabra he’d seen, but nobody believed him anyway. At least this time the disbelief wasn’t accompanied with painful injuries, like the permanent reminders on his skin from when he hadn’t yet learnt to keep his trap shut as a kid.

More nipping on his ear pulled Daryl out of his thoughts. He turned his head to the side and met the green-eyed gaze with his own. Potter - Odd name for a bird, especially for one of the predator side of things.  Daryl also wasn’t sure how to feel about said predator belonging to someone. Maybe disappointment...

“Our guide, huh? Better not lead us astray. Ending up as dinner ain’t off the table completely.”

* * *

 

The discussion continued long into the night and all the while Rick was silently brooding in one corner of the room. At first they had tried to pick Rick’s brain and offer suggestions, but his snappish attitude had quickly dissuaded them. Daryl was still convinced their leader’s decision would go towards checking the Sanctuary out.

A few hours later he was proven right.

“So, we seriously going to follow that birdie up there?” T-Dog pointed up to the sky, where said bird had flown in circles since they’d opened the front door to load up their vehicles.

“Yeah. Yeah, we are,” Rick confirmed adamantly as he slid into the driver’s seat of his car. “We’ve all seen that it’s clever. It’s probably been trained by that man somehow.”

And it’s probably not a normal bird, Daryl added mentally as he started the motor of his bike.

As soon as all of them were seated and ready for travel, Potter abandoned its circling and winged its way westward. Exactly the direction Snape had mentioned. On the way they had to stop once or twice to deal with pile-ups and every time the merlin waited for them to clear the path while soaring through the sky and playfully chasing anything smaller than it or resting in nearby trees.

As they approached the fiftieth mile, Daryl suddenly felt a vague urge to turn around and look for gas to refuel his bike, even though the fuel tank was still half-full. A few hundred feet later Rick, who was driving in front, stopped his car and started to turn it.

In that moment their avian guide swooped towards the street, but the legs touching down on the tarmac weren’t short, orange and armed with talons. Instead they were clad in a pair of tan cargo pants and black boots and belonged to a young man with dark, windswept hair.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a filler/explanation chapter. It had to be done unfortunately ;)

Daryl was pretty sure he wasn’t the only one gaping at the animal turned human. This was somehow harder to wrap his mind around than the various mystical creatures he’d spotted or the weird things he’d witnessed since childhood - Like the instant disappearing act from the previous night or the granny in town back then, whose vegetables had floated from their respective places in the garden to various baskets.

Maybe because the magic aspect was only partly responsible for his shock. Confusion, suspicion and, to make matters worse, a hint of embarrassment was coursing through his body, as Daryl’s thoughts inevitably drifted back to the last few weeks. He’d thought he’d interacted with a particularly clever bird, but now that he knew it had actually been a person in… well, _disguise,_ put everything in a whole new light.

Groaning and shuffling from all sides interrupted his pondering. Walkers, at least two dozen, had appeared from the forest on both sides of the street and were clumsily but determinedly staggering through the undergrowth to reach their next meal. Daryl eyed them warily, his hands reaching for the crossbow that was fastened to the front of his bike.

What now? Fight or flight?

His gaze strayed back to the unknown man, whose right hand disappeared in the front pocket of his pants. When it resurfaced, it held a few leather straps, which the brunet tapped, one after another, with a stick that had dropped into his hand with a flick of his wrist.

What. The. _Fuck_?

“Stay in the cars! I know you’ve got questions, but those have to wait till later. Wrap these straps around your wrists and drive on. We’re almost there,” the man – apparently another Brit – exclaimed as he drove a knife deep into the skull of a walker that had closed in too much. Then he dashed from car to car to push the leather  straps through the partially opened windows. Daryl and his bike were the last in line. The man – Potter? – held his hand out with a crooked smile and turned back into a bird at the drop of a hat, when Daryl hesitantly accepted the offered accessory.

Yeah, he had a shit-ton of questions and some revelations to work through, but for now he decided to trust his gut feeling and wrapped the leather strap around his wrist, knotting it with the help of his teeth. At once the urge to leave faded completely.  Instead his mind focused on the building and the fucking huge road sign with directions to the West Georgia Correction Facility half a mile in front of them that he hadn’t noticed up until now.  

Great, more mojo.

He vaguely heard Carl and, surprisingly, Hershel arguing with their respective fellow car passengers. Maybe they were the only other people who’d followed the instructions and were trying to convince the rest of the group after they’d felt the effects. To give everyone more incentive, Daryl stepped on the gas and pulled ahead of the cars, which was a good idea either way, because the walkers had almost reached them.

“C’mon!”

Fortunately everyone followed his lead and a few minutes later they arrived in front of the prison. They passed the first set of barbed wire fences, after the gates had opened by themselves, and were directed to a patch of grass, next to various parked vehicles, by a middle-aged man. Daryl stopped the engine of his bike and dismounted, before he took a cursory look around.

A few dozen walkers were lingering outside the outer fences, snarling and grasping in their direction but, for some reason, not even touching said fence. One more question to add to the ever growing list.

Each of the three watchtowers in Daryl’s line of sight was manned by at least one person and he could see a few people beyond the inner fence. Some of them were children and elderly people.

Potter, once again human, was patiently waiting for the rest of the group to get out of the cars. After everyone had done so, all eyes swiveled to the brunet in astonishment.

“Whoa man, what the hell was that? You some kind of shape-shifter? Is that also a thing now?” T-Dog exclaimed, while Carl expressed his admiration for the transformation and Rick demanded an explanation for what the hell was going on.

The most interesting comment by far, however, was Hershel’s.

“You’re an animagus, aren’t you, son?” The old man had a knowing glint in his eyes and the power to take Potter by surprise, if the slack-jawed expression was any indication.

“Yeah, I am. Are you-?”

“Oh God, no,” Hershel interrupted him with a wave of his hand. “My uncle however, he went to that school at Mount Greylock.”

“Ilvermorny.”

“ ** _What_** is going on?” Rick growled, his patience obviously wearing thin.

Potter raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

“You having a safe roof over your head from now on is going on.”

“You can’t just-,“ Lori started to rant, but went completely  ignored by Potter, who turned away from the two incensed members of the group to face the remaining eight ones, including Daryl.

“My name is Harry Potter and I’m a wizard, so are Severus and several other people who live here. Most are ‘normal’” Here he air-quoted. “people like you, though. We’ve been around for ages, but there were laws and measures in place to keep us a secret from non-magical people. If you’re wondering why, you may remember the witch trials. Keeping mum doesn’t really matter or help anymore, though.”

“So what, you’re like a real-life Merlin?” T-Dog wondered incredulously. “What else can you do?”

“The more important question is why you didn’t turn back yesterday evening and explained everything to us then,” Maggie interrupted with a frown.

Potter eyed her for a long moment, before he scratched the back of his head with a sigh.

“It’s hard to grasp that magic actually exists. I knew you’d be wary and might not come here, if I had revealed myself yesterday, but… I wanted to give you the opportunity to take a look around and talk to the people here, before you decide whether you want to stay or not.”

“Like Andrea?”

The brunet shrugged. “Until yesterday I didn’t have a clue that you knew each other, but yeah for example. There’re another thirty odd people around here with whom you can talk, too.” His eyes wandered to a brunette woman who had passed the inner gates and was walking in their direction.

“Harry, welcome back! Matthew wants to talk to you a.s.a.p. It’s about the trip to Columbus.”

“Alright, I’ll go in a minute. Everyone, this is Clarice. She will show you around and explain everything. She’s a witch and can tell you some more about magic if you’re interested. Tomorrow I’ll come talk to you. If you decide to stay, we’ll equip you with these.” Potter raised his left arm to show them the wide leather bracelet around his wrist. “Among other things, they’ll give you access to the compound. I guess all of you have felt the effects of one of the defensive wards. It’s the reason why you wanted to leave so badly.”

“Isn’t that what these things are for?” Glenn wondered, tugging on one end of the leather strap that was dangling from his hand. It wasn’t even knotted.

“Yeah, but those’re only temporary and won’t work for more than another hour or so.  If you were to leave after time runs out, you’d remember something urgent and walk or drive off. You wouldn’t be able to get back here. The bracelets will be keyed to only you. If you were to lose them on the outside for whatever reason, nobody else would be able to use them. It’s another security measure, but I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow. Well then, I’ll see you later… I hope you decide to stay.”

Potter nodded at all of them in farewell, even Lori and Rick who were still slightly fuming, before he disappeared into thin air.

Daryl couldn’t help notice that the brunet’s lips had curled into a small smile again, when their eyes had met.

* * *

 

While Clarice led them to and through the main building, she introduced them to the people they met on the way and pointed out what had been improved or altered since the prison had been cleared of walkers (or revenants, as she called them). Solar cells had been added to the roof and another cell block harbored chicken and goats. The whole building was heated by some magical hocus-pocus and the cells had been extended to thrice their size and supplied with normal beds and proper doors to offer a semblance of privacy. Even the infirmary and the pantry were stocked.

It really felt like it was too good to be true.

Their next stop was the training room in which knife-handling and hand-to-hand were taught and practiced so that everyone knew how to defend themselves against a walker or living enemy.

“This is the beginner’s class. They meet every other day for an hour or two,” Clarice explained as they entered the room. A mixed group of young and older people of both sexes were practicing stabbing motions, while a blonde woman paced in front of them, offering advice when necessary.

“Andrea?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl finally gets some time to ponder his prior interactions with Harry.

Andrea looked up from where she was correcting the form of a little girl no older than ten.

"Guys…"

Her eyes were wide, before her face did something complicated. Daryl wasn't the best at deciphering other people's emotions, but he assumed part of it was relief, though Andrea didn't look particularly thrilled to see them. If his hunch was correct, the blonde was probably glad that most members of her former group had survived, but also had negative emotions concerning their parting on the farm.

It had been a complicated situation, but they'd basically left her behind to fend for herself. They'd always gone a long way for the members of their group, even when almost all hope for them was lost, but they hadn't gone back to check if Andrea was really dead or had escaped. It wouldn't be a surprise if she felt at least a little betrayed.

Andrea turned back around to her students and dismissed them for the day with a strained smile on her lips. As soon as the last person had trickled out of the room, Carol dragged Andrea into a desperate hug.

"We thought you were dead! What happened?"

For a moment the blonde was unmoving, but then wrapped her arms around the other woman, as well.

"I grabbed the weapon bag and ran into the forest. That worked for some time, but eventually I was out of ammunition and exhausted. I stumbled and thought 'This is it', but then-"

"Harry appeared?" Carl piped in.

Andrea loosened her hold on Carol and stepped back, before shaking her head.

"No, I met Mischonne. I guess, she saved my life… We travelled together from then on. She's here, too. She was wary of this place in the beginning, but I talked her into staying for at least two weeks to see what it's like and I think she's starting to like it here. It's a great place. We have a lot of supplies and the amount increases daily thanks to the supply runs. It's also safe from walkers and scavengers."

"And the… magic thing?" Glenn wondered tentatively and got a lazy shrug in return.

"It takes some getting used to, but if it's making our lives easier, I'm all for it. And the people here are nice," Andrea offered, smiling at Clarice, who was still in the room with them. "Even Severus, though he's a bit… grumpy."

"He was the one to invite you to the Sanctuary, too?"

"Yeah, though Harry was watching us for a week or two beforehand." Andrea frowned pensively as she leant against the wall behind her. "I guess you know of the bird thing? He was always sitting in one tree or another, staring at us. It was a bit creepy, to be honest."

"Just sitting in a tree? He didn't come close to you?" Carol probed with a smirky side-glance in Daryl's direction.

Said brunet groaned and contemplated burying his face in his hands for a long moment or outright leaving the room. In the end he just turned his face to the side and hoped with all his might that the heat he felt in his ears wasn't a visible flush. Daryl knew exactly what Carol was alluding to and he wasn't ready to contemplate Harry's actions in bird-form and what they meant in regards to him.

* * *

Spending the night in a soft bed and sitting down for breakfast in peace felt weird. Daryl had still slept with one eye open and his body was ready to react to a threat in a split second. He doubted that would ever change, even in the Sanctuary.

When they had eaten their fill, they'd been directed to one of the rooms in sector B, though instead of Harry joining them for more explanations, it had been Severus. Apparently there had been a last minute decision the previous evening and now the younger wizard had joined the supply run team to Columbus.

Rick wasn't quite sold on the Sanctuary (or just Harry), but it had been decided that they'd stay at least until Lori had given birth to her child. Daryl was still betting on it being Shane's offspring, but that wasn't his problem. Fortunately.

"Potter, may has mentioned it yesterday, but this is your admission card." Severus waved to the small table on which ten identical bracelets were displayed. "They negate all defensive wards for you and are therefore, as a security precaution, tuned to only you. Do _**not**_ lose them! Their second purpose is especially relevant for those of you, who will be going on supply runs. Each bracelet functions as a portkey. Portkeys are magical means of travel akin to teleportation. Some of you have already seen me apparate, which is a similar travelling method, though apparition has to be performed by a wizard or witch, whereas portkeys can be used by non-magical people, as well."

The brunet paused and rubbed his index finger over his lips in contemplation.

"There may be need for you to take someone along for whatever reason. If the wards register another person without a bracelet of their own, your travel will automatically be directed to one of the containment rooms that have been prepared for such a case and you will have to wait to be let out by one of the people on duty. Now, if you'll come forward one by one and add a drop of blood to your respective bracelets…"

* * *

Daryl had spent the rest of his day exploring. Their individual tasks would start the next day, giving him enough time to familiarize himself with the piece of land and its buildings more thoroughly. It also gave him opportunity to mull everything over in peace.

He recalled his first meeting with Harry and now, in retrospect, was very glad that the brunet was such a nimble, little bastard. Daryl tried not to think too deeply about what would have happened if the wizard had ended up their dinner. Severus or someone else from the Sanctuary group would've probably paid them a visit and sent them six feet under. Or maybe worse, they would've told them just _who_ Daryl'd killed and made a meal of. Shuddering in disgust, he redirected his thoughts to the time _after_ they'd entered their… truce.

He remembered the preening, the careful nips to his ears, eyebrows and fingers and the times when the merlin had kept him company during his watch. It had been surprising for a (maybe) wild animal to behave in such a way, but the attention had been welcome.

And now Daryl knew that the merlin was actually a guy who could turn into an animal.

In his mind the preening turned into fingers carding through his hair and the beak into human teeth and lips that didn't contain their touches to Daryl's face and fingers. He felt his face and ears turning hot and was glad that nobody was around to see him blushing.

Daryl didn't even know why Harry had acted in such a way. If the brunet was just (for whatever reason) fond of him and animal instincts had taken over or if it had been… kind of creepy flirting.

Maybe he wouldn't be quite _averse_ … to the latter… if both at them were human at the time, that is. Either way, he'd try to talk to Harry, if only to learn more about magical creatures. He was dying to know which actually existed.

A sound similar to a backfiring car pulled Daryl out of his musings. The groans and snarls from the walkers surrounding the property grew stronger, but try as they may, they didn't get closer to the chain-link fence. He eyes them for a moment, but then jogged over to the courtyard to find out where the sound had come from.

As it turned out, the Columbus group had returned and obviously something dire had happened. A few members of the group were chalk white, Harry in particular. Had someone been killed during the supply run? Daryl didn't know how many people had gone on the trip, so he had no idea whether somebody was missing or not.

"I… I'm _so sorry_ , Harry. If I hadn't- I-" The teen next to Harry sounded on the verge of tears as he repeatedly reached out and retracted his hand without ever touching the wizard.

Harry dropped his own hand on the shoulder of the young man and squeezed.

"I know. It wasn't your fault and I'm glad you're alright. I… I'll think about a solution. Bring the food to the pantry and then let Maurice take a look at your wrist, okay?"

Now crying for real, the teen bit his lip, but nodded, before shuffling into the building. When he had disappeared from sight, Harry dragged the hand, which'd lain on the boy's shoulder, over his face and through his hair. Afterwards he strode into the main building, as well, under the sympathetic eyes of the Columbus group.

What the hell had happened?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your lovely reviews :) They're very motivating! This chapter turned out a bit short, but the next one should be longer.

Harry hadn't appeared at dinner. Neither had Severus for that matter. Was it a coincidence or were the two leaders of the Sanctuary planning the solution to whatever had happened in Columbus like Harry had promised?

By now Daryl knew there had been a run in with walkers and that everyone had survived, but that couldn't be the main problem. He hoped Harry or Severus would announce it the next day, if it was relevant for everyone, especially if it happened to be a threat. For now, he couldn't do much, though, because the remaining Columbus team kept mum.

He let his gaze sweep over the dining room, seeking the members of his group. Most of them were engrossed in conversation, some even laughing with people they'd only just met. The only exceptions were Rick and Lori. While the former was silently brooding in one corner of the room, the brunette was fuming at something or another. Daryl wasn't keen on finding out what had annoyed her this time.

Instead he got up, wrapped his poncho around his shoulders and went outside to get some fresh air. The sky was clear, making it a relative bright, albeit cool night. There was some movement on the watch towers, but otherwise the premises were void of humans, which made sense. Nobody (with the exception of the people on watch) was supposed to venture past the inner line of chain-link fences at night.

Daryl was leaning against a concrete wall, when he noticed the dark dot zipping through the sky. In the darkness, he couldn't be sure, but it pretty much looked like a bird. A bird whose agile turning maneuvers he knew very well by now. He pushed himself off the wall and stepped forward until the fence blocked his way. His eyes tracked the dot as it circled and swooped and when it finally disappeared into the dark shadows of the night, he felt a pang of disappointment.

He contemplated going back inside, when the sound of flapping wings reached his ears and in the next moment his left shoulder was weighted down by a familiar merlin. It poked its beak against his cheek in greeting and went to tug on Daryl's hair like it was wont to do, but then froze mid-motion. It pulled back and after a few seconds of hesitation hopped to the ground, where Harry tuned back into his human form.

"Sorry. I guess that's-" The wizards averted his gaze and ruffled the hair on the back of his head as he visibly struggled for an appropriate word choice. "…awkward now."

Daryl opened his mouth to refute the statement or maybe to ask why Harry had started to interact with him in such a manner in the first place. To his chagrin, words for neither left his mouth. He frowned, annoyed with himself, though Harry apparently thought the negative reaction was meant for him. The corners of the wizard's mouth pointed downwards as he crouched down slightly, most likely building up momentum to resume his flying.

"Wait! I…" Great, now what to say? "I ain't… bothered by it," he finally declared gruffly. Harry looked unconvinced, but that was just about everything Daryl was able to contribute to that topic for now.

A subject change was in order!

"What happened? This afternoon?"

Harry slowly straightened himself. His expression had visibly darkened even more and Daryl noticed a minute twitch in his right hand.

"We encountered a large group of revenants, quite a few of them under the age of ten." The brunet sighed and wearily carded his fingers through his hair. "Some people of the group were caught off-guard, hesitating… Jamie was one of them. Two little girls were coming at him and he froze. I pushed him out of the way and dealt with them, but in the meantime another revenant had crept up. A bloke a head or so taller than me, the brawny type. I was struggling with him and managed to fend him off, but this happened…" He morosely pulled something out of one of the cargo pants pockets.

It was Harrys wand, the dark wood broken in two, some sort of red-orange feather sticking out of one half.

"Ya can't do magic without it?" Daryl wondered as he scrutinized the magic tool. The wizard was at least still capable of turning into an animal.

"I can still do some things, like summoning stuff to me, turning into my animagus form and apparating… though side-along is out of the question. I'd probably splinch the other person." He shuddered and Daryl decided that he didn't want to know what splinching meant, it sounded painful in any case.

"And ya can't just replace it? Like a knife or gun?"

"It's not that easy." Harry slowly shook his head, his finger softly tapping against the ragged edge of the wood. "Disregarding the sentimental value… there's a saying in the magical world… or there used to be, I guess. _The wand chooses the wizard_. If it's the wrong wand, at best spells don't work as well, at worst they explode into your face, sometimes literally. I've seen it happen. Finding the right fit can be difficult and that's with a wand maker at hand. When I was eleven and got this one, I tried almost every wand in the shop and none worked right and I was beginning to think that- No, never mind…"

Daryl pondered the new information for a moment. As a non-magical person it was hard to grasp what it was like to be basically cut off from your magic, not just your primary means of defense, but also _part_ of yourself.

Scary, frustrating… maybe even depressing?

Living in a zombie-infested world made the whole thing even worse.

"Tomorrow I'll check the wand shop in Atlanta, that's where the closest wizarding alley is."

"Alone?" Daryl raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Harry pushed his broken wand back into his pocket and rubbed his hand over his arms, probably to get warmer, considering the brunet was only wearing a long-sleeved shirt. A winter coat was unnecessary as a bird, afterall.

"No, Severus and Araminta are going, too. They'll cast a silencing charm on the shop and then check if there's anything useful left in the alley."

"Ya mind, if I come, too?" Not only was Daryl curious what a wizarding alley would be like, he also wanted to have the wizard's back during the wand shopping spree and maybe… he'd be able to pull himself together enough to voice his questions if he spent more time with the other man.

Harry was silent for a long moment, during which Daryl automatically held his breath in anticipation. In the end the wizard uttered a sigh and nodded his acquiescence.

"We leave tomorrow after breakfast."

* * *

The next day, Daryl stepped into Severus office, the starting point of their little trip. The brunet was frowning at him, but didn't say anything as they waited for the others to arrive. Daryl wasn't inclined to break the silence between them.

Next, a surprisingly cheerful looking woman with blonde curls appeared in the room. She greeted him with a smile, before turning towards her fellow magic-user, who had redirected his scowl towards her.

" _Stop_ that! You're giving me a headache," Severus hissed after a moment. Daryl wondered if he was irritated by the woman's good mood, because as far as he'd seen, she hadn't done anything else to provoke those words.

"You know I can't help it! It happens naturally." The witch pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest, making Severus grind his teeth.

"Then make an effort, you dunderhead! You don't see me running around and-" The brunet's words were interrupted by Harry's arrival and if the wizard's eye roll was any indication, this argument hadn't happened for the first time. Whatever it had been about.

" _Again?_ You two are like cats and dogs, that's why I was against this constellation."

Severus raised an eyebrow, a smirk twitching in the corners of his lips, while he pointedly looked at Daryl, who was slowly but surely regretting having asked to join in.

Araminta's eyes widened as her gaze travelled from wizard to wizard and finally landed to Daryl. She suddenly started snickering and waggling her eyebrows at Harry.

"Really? Preening?"

Said brunet glared at both of them, his face decidedly flushed.

"I hate both of you… let's go!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, this ends in a cliffy and the next chapter will be out mid- to end-April. Read at your own risk ;) And I'd be happy about any and all comments.

Daryl really, really hoped that no walkers were nearby, because he was currently a bit busy with retching. He hated apparition. _A lot_. Araminta didn’t look much better than he felt, but that was barely any consolation at all.

“It’s because Severus had to side-along both of you. If I find a new wand, I can take you back and it’s not going to be as bad,” Harry explained, rubbing Daryl’s back in sympathy.

The brunet nodded half-heartedly and finally looked up, when he was sure that his breakfast wouldn’t make a reappearance. They had arrived in a well-lit store with rows upon unbroken rows of shelves, most of them filled with phials, glass containers with dubious content and boxes. All of them were undisturbed.

“So, this used to be your potion store?” Araminta, who was looking less green now, wondered while picking up one of the phials and studying the label.

“Indeed,” Severus affirmed, his face pinched as he eyed his life prior to what had basically been the end of the world as they knew it. “It used to,” he added more softly, before pressing his lips into a thin line and striding to the front door. “Let us proceed to the wand shop. Dawdling will get us nowhere.”

At first glance, the wizarding alley (or rather street) of Atlanta looked pretty much like any other shopping street, Daryl noticed a bit disappointed as they slipped out of the warded potion store. Then he noticed the oddities.

In one store window a mannequin, wearing a flashy robe, was not only posing for them, it was also blowing them kisses, the shop sign of another store displayed a dragon, which moved around and gave off clouds of smoke. Unfortunately, Daryl didn’t have ample opportunity to take in every magical detail, because the alley was filled with walkers, which they had to avoid or get rid of as inconspicuously as possible.

A few minutes later, they reached a building, which was missing its door – Demelza’s Wand Wonders. They entered the store cautiously and before long Daryl shot an arrow through the head of an oncoming walker, while Harry rammed an ornate dagger through the eye of another. In the meantime, Araminta had magicked up a new door and Severus was doing… _something_ with his wand. When they’d checked the remaining rooms and gotten rid of every threat, Daryl finally allowed himself to take a curious look around.

The wand store was filled with shelves (similar to Severus’ actually), all of them harboring small, brown and black boxes. A few of the shelves had been knocked over and wands of all sizes and colors were strewn across the floor. Some of them were broken, but most still seemed to be in good condition.

He bent down and picked one of them up to study it more closely. It was made of dark wood, rather short and pretty much looked like a sanded twig. Actually, it also felt like it, there was no magical spark whatsoever. It was to be expected, he wasn’t a wizard, after all.

“The shop is silenced, feel free to make a ruckus, Potter,” Severus stated and the mockingly arched eyebrow indicated in no uncertain terms that the brunet expected such a thing to happen. “We will proceed towards the trunk shop down the street.”

“Have fun, guys!” Araminta added cheerily and followed the older wizard out of the building, leaving them alone.

Harry pointedly rolled his eyes, but went to business soon after. He pulled a burlap sack out of his pocket and placed it on the counter, before turning towards Daryl.

“Can you put the wands I discard into the sack, please? We might as well take them with us, in case more accidents happen.”

Daryl nodded and held the short wand in his hand out to the wizard. Harry responded to the gesture with a lopsided grin and reached out to accept the wand.

“I don’t think this is going to be the one…,” the brunet mumbled, before his fingers had even closed around the wood, but when they did, his suspicion proved true. From one second to the next, the wand caught fire like a torch drenched in gasoline. Harry quickly dropped it to the floor and stomped the fire out with his boot until nothing more than a charred piece of wood remained.

Daryl stared at it with a twinge of guilt, then looked up to check if Harry had burned himself.

“Sorry… you okay?”

The brunet waved his hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry about it. Like I said, the wand choses the wizard and that one just didn’t like me.” He walked over to the first shelf and studied the boxes. “My original wand is made out of holly and a phoenix feather. I should probably start with that. Good thing these are labeled.”

Harry began his search and Daryl helped him to speed things up. Fortunately, the selves were sorted by wand core, but apparently Demelza hadn’t been a huge fan of phoenixes – phoenixes!!! -  because they only found two boxes with the right cores and none of them was made of holly.

“Did ya live here, too?” Daryl inquired as the wizard opened the boxes anyway to test the wands inside. They didn’t burst into flames like the first one had, but Harry looked unsatisfied after casting a few spells with them.

“No, I used to be a British auror. That’s a type of magical law enforcement officer,” the brunet explained as he went back to the shelf with unicorn hair cores. Daryl slid the two discarded wand boxes into the burlap sack, marveling at the irony of both Rick and Harry being, basically, cops. “I came to the USA because of Snape. He was my potions professor in school and…” The brunet grimaced. “It’s hard to explain…  There was a magical war and we were both part of it, fighting for the same side. Snape got badly injured near the end of it.” He tapped the side of his neck with his fingers. It was the spot where Severus still had scar tissue.

“We thought he was dead and had to leave him behind to finish the fight and when we came back later, he had disappeared. A few months ago I got a lead that he’s here and-” he shrugged. “I checked it out and here I am, in the middle of the bloody zombie apocalypse, far away from home.” Harry’s lips formed a bitter smile as he approached the counter with several new boxes. He set them down and absentmindedly swiped along the side with his thumb.

“The worst of it is not knowing if the people, who’re important to you, are still alive, I think.”

Daryl didn’t have a lot of those, but he could relate anyway, so he nodded. Merle was, after all, still missing and he had no chance of knowing if his brother was still alive or whether he’d ever see him again or not. He wondered who Harry had left behind – Parents? Friends? A significant other or even kids…?

“Ya can’t just… pop back?” Daryl wondered, his eyes tracing the lines on the box labels. All of them spelled ‘Hawthorn + Unicorn hair’, then different lengths in inches. “Apparate or something?” The thought made him slightly nauseous. Not the apparition part of it, just... Harry disappearing suddenly. Of having the chance to sort out which (potential) feelings were swirling between them snatched away from him.

The wizard slowly unboxed the first wand from the new batch and gave it a swish. At first it looked like nothing had happened, but then Daryl noticed that the ugly paper weight next to him was levitating half an inch above the counter. Harry hummed but put it back and pushed it towards Daryl.

“I… I thought about it. A lot. I’d probably manage to get back eventually, be it by flying or apparating, but… When all of this started, when we were still figuring out what was happening, we saved a women and her sons and an elderly man and… suddenly we were an ever expanding group on the run. I couldn’t just leave.” He snorted. “One of my best friends once told me I have a ‘saving people thing’. But by now the Sanctuary is as secure as possible and there are enough people to keep it running Maybe I’ll chance it during spring...”

The brunet looked up, his probing stare fixed on Daryl’s face and his cheeks and the tips of his ears flooded with blood. Daryl was both intrigued and confused by the blush, although…

Maybe Harry _was_ interested in him and now he was waiting for a sign that he didn’t want the wizard to leave? Was he trying to test the waters? Was that wishful thinking on Daryl’s side?

He shifted his weight nervously and opened his mouth, but the words were stuck in his throat.

Fuck, why did he have to suck so much when it came to these things?

Before he had time to beat himself up further, a warm palm grasped his wrist, which, surprisingly, calmed him down a bit - as did the tentative grin on Harry’s lips. Daryl swallowed hard and slowly leant forward, giving the other man enough time to withdraw, if he was inclined to. Harry didn’t move and then, suddenly, their lips were touching. It was no more than a peck, but it was enough to bolster Daryl’s confidence.

He wrapped an arm around the brunet’s waist and tugged him closer, before their lips met again, this time a lot more passionate. He felt Harry’s fingers in his hair, the occasional tugging a familiar sensation.

When they pulled away from each other, both of them breathing heavily, Harry laughed softly.

“I wanted to do that for _ages_.”

“When ya almost ripped my hair out?” Daryl inquired with a smirk. Now he wondered why asking these questions had been so difficult for him just minutes ago. “Or when ya were tryin’ to give me some piercings?”

“I just-“ Harry directed an embarrassed scowl at him and punched his arm. “Shut up!… but yeah. It was an instinct thing, the preening and stuff.”

Daryl snorted, so the brunet _had_ been (creepily) flirting with him. He left a trail of kisses from the corner of the wizard’s mouth to his neck, before reluctantly pulling back.

“Ya should continue with that.” The brunet nodded to the boxes next to them. “We can figure this-“ He waved his hand between Harry and himself. “out when we’re back in the Sanctuary”

The other man looked just as reluctant as Daryl felt, which was… actually really satisfying, but agreed and went back to his searching and testing.

An hour and a half went by, the shelves got emptier, but Harry still hadn’t found the right wand. Daryl was beginning to understand why the brunet had been apprehensive the previous day. Twenty minutes ago, he’d had wandered upstairs to take a look around, in hopes of staving off his boredom. So far, he’d found some interesting knick-knacks, but nothing noteworthy.

That is, until he reached the display cabinet, which housed another wand box. This one was old, the color faded and worn on the corners, but the wand therein was in pristine condition. ‘Blackthorn + Horned Serpent horn, 11 inches’ was proclaimed on the bottom of the box in faded letters.

“Daryl!”

The brunet flinched, but quickly shoved the box into his bag, before sprinting down the stairs, one knife in hand. When he entered the store part of the building, Harry looked alarmed as he gestured to the ghostly mountain lion next to him.

Ghostly. Mountain lion.

“Snape and Araminta need help, we’ve got to go!”

Daryl had no idea what the animal spirit had to do with that, but he grabbed his crossbow and followed the wizard to the door. Then, the mountain lion ran off, right through the fucking wall, but when they’d left the store, it was patiently waiting for them a couple of feet away. The walkers ignored it, but unfortunately not them. They ended up losing precious time, but in the end reached the plant shop their animal guide had led them to.

It was crawling with walkers. A shit-ton of them and Araminta was the only one fighting them. She had been driven into a corner and was barely holding on. The doorway to the next room had been blasted open, the door itself was nowhere to be seen. Daryl spotted Severus’ body buried beneath a few unmoving walkers, bleeding and with scorch marks. Maybe already dead or at least bitten.

“He’s unconscious!” Araminta shouted from where she was kicking a red-haired walker away, while driving a dagger through another one’s skull. Harry set out to help her, leaving Daryl to carve his way towards Severus. It wasn’t easy, the number of walkers didn’t seem to decrease, either, but after what felt like ages, he finally reached his goal. Severus was still breathing shallowly, but if he didn’t get medical attention soon, he’d probably bleed out.

A sudden, pained cry made his blood run cold. Daryl turned around as if in slow motion until his gaze settled on Harry and the walker, which had sank its teeth into the brunet’s biceps.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I warned all of you about the previous chapter, but you read it before now anyway ;) As promised, here's the next chapter.

Harry killed the walker, before it had the chance to rip flesh out of his arm. It was already far too late, though. The brunet had been infected or rather, the latent infection had now been kick-started. Daryl was staring at the profusely bleeding bite wound in horror. A clear contrast to Harry, whose face was a blank mask with a hint of resignation at the ragged edges.

"You should return to the Sanc-", the brunet started inflectionless, but was quickly cut off by Araminta, who was furiously glaring.

" _Fuck_ no! Daryl, grab Severus and portkey back," the witch called over, while wrapping her hand around Harry's wrist and apparating with a loud bang. The ruckus was sure to bring even more walkers into the store in no time. The brunet quickly dragged the unmoving bodies off Severus, killing oncoming walkers whenever necessary, and finally took hold of the wizard to transport him back to the Sanctuary.

They arrived in an unfurnished room to the sound of arguing. Harry and Araminta were facing off, almost snarling at each other.

"-been thinking?! There's _**no**_ remedy. I'll get a fever, turn and then what? You'll put a dagger through my brain _then_? If you'd-"

"There's no remedy, _yet_! We haven't put much focus on looking for one so far, but we can start _**now**_!" the blonde witch countered stubbornly. Daryl wanted to agree with her so badly, but he remembered everything they'd leant in the CDC all too well. There was neither a remedy nor people researching one.

Then again… maybe magic had an answer?

"Maybe you'll find one, that would be great," Harry conceded wearily, shoving up his glasses with the back of his hand to rub over his eyes. "But it won't be one for me. I have three more days at most and I doubt we'll find something in that time."

"Animals don't turn." The words were out of Daryl's mouth before he had much time to think about them, but they were true. As far as they knew, animals didn't become walkers when they died and the wizard had the chance to use that to his advantage. If there was even the smallest possibility that Harry could be healed, he wanted him to hold on until they'd found a way. To hold on so they could actually discuss what had happened in the wand store barely two hours prior. He wanted to get to know him, to kiss those lips countless times and… he wanted the brunet to _live_ most of all.

"That- I don't-" The wizard looked conflicted, but didn't outright dismiss the implied suggestion. Both Araminta and Daryl stared at him imploringly, until Harry finally sighed in resignation (although Daryl did see a glimmer of hope in his eyes). "Alright, fine! At least until Severus is back on his feet. Get him to Maurice, okay?"

Daryl released the breath he'd been holding as he watched the transformation from human to bird in slight relief. They hadn't solved the problem, but they'd at least gained some time.

* * *

 

Jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, that's what the last twenty-four hours had felt like to Daryl. After they'd transported Severus to the sick bay and leaving him in the capable hands of their resident healer and doctor Maurice, Araminta had told him what had happened in the store.

Apparently one of the doors had been secured with a strong ward that had literally exploded into Severus' face. The rooms beyond had been inhabited by quite a few store keepers and their families, who'd sought refuge after the zombie apocalypse had started. At least one of them had probably been bitten by a walker or died of natural causes and then turned the others.

Upon hearing that both of their leaders were in critical condition, the members of the Sanctuary had been shocked, but there had been a surprising lack of panic. Most had been utterly unimpressed, though, when Lori had tried to assert Rick as the new leader and promptly ignored her. Daryl had to agree. He knew that the former cop had good leadership skills, otherwise he wouldn't have followed him, but…Rick seemed to be on the edge of snapping and was in need of some serious down time to process everything that had happened in the previous months. Also, there had already been a small council for emergency decisions in place.

Fortunately, it wasn't needed for long.

Severus had already woken up and due to the wonders of magic, he'd be back on his feet within a few days' time.

When Daryl opened the door to the sick bay, the older man and Harry, who was hopping around on Severus' sheet covered knee, were locked in a stare down (or, to be more accurate, a glare off). It was actually hilarious to watch considering one of them was currently a ball of fluff and feathers.

"Why must you always insist on being such a rash dunderhead, Potter?" Severus finally spat out, his fingers clenched hard enough into fists to turn his knuckles white. Harry started to chatter angrily in response, but he didn't disrupt their eye-contact. " **Yes** , you _could_ have left me there! How are we-" The wizard uttered a frustrated sound and pinched the bridge of his not inconsiderable nose. Maybe to stave off a headache.

"Ya can understand 'im like that?" Daryl wondered as he stepped closer to the bed and leant his crossbow against the wall next to it.

Severus huffed, but didn't let his gaze stray away from the bird in front of him.

"No, I'm a Legilimens, similar to Ms. Kowalski – _Araminta_. I have the ability to enter a person's mind and interpret what I find there and _**no**_ , it is not simply 'mind reading'. The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure!"

Daryl raised his eyebrows in bemusement. He hadn't even implied such, but considering the amused sounds coming from Harry, it was probably something Severus had stated repeatedly in the past and was getting sick of doing so.

"Why'd you call me here?" Daryl inquired instead of reacting to the legilimens topic, which was probably the safer bet.

"During our… discussion about Potter's death defying and deadly shenanigans in the past, it has come to my attention that he has, in fact, been bitten by a basilisk. Although not as instantly lethal as its gaze, a basilisk's venom kills within minutes. As you can see for yourself, he is still alive… to the surprise of everyone unfortunate enough to- Potter, desist from nipping my arm!"

Another glare off commenced, during which Daryl was trying to wrap his mind around the existence of basilisks and Harry's apparent penchant for dangerous situations. What exactly did 'deadly shenanigans' mean anyway?

"So, what happened?", Daryl pressed with a curious squint and a spark of hope unfurling inside his body.

Severus firmly tugged his sleeve out of the younger wizard's beak and looked up.

"Phoenix tears. The headmaster of Hogwarts, the school both Potter and I attended, was bonded to a phoenix called Fawkes. Apparently he appeared at Potter's side and cried into the wound, healing it. I'm highly confident that the tears will work in this case, as well, but unfortunately I no longer have access to them and phoenixes aren't exactly numerous."

The brunet turned to the side and picked an old, leather-bound book up from the bedside table.

"I found a summoning ritual in one of the books I was able to save from my personal collection. The core of Potter's former wand is one of Fawkes' feathers, which means we already have one of the key ingredients. A few of the remaining items are in my potion storage, but we are still missing some. If you're amenable to it, I want you and Ms. Kowalski to procure them, while I prepare the ritual."

"Sure." That was a no-brainer. If there was something he could do to help, he wanted to do it. Harry fluttered over to him and settled on his shoulder, carefully nipping his ear. The action was familiar, but sadly no longer comforting. Not while knowing that the merlin couldn't turn back into a human without dying.

* * *

 

Getting the items wasn't too difficult. To be honest, the constant apparating around the state was the worst thing about it. They gathered all kinds of plants, broke into a jewelry store in search for ametrine and had to fight off a group of fucking huge spiders to gather some of their webs. A walk in the park really.

Meanwhile, Severus had declared one of the empty rooms in the Sanctuary as a ritual chamber and was drawing a complicated circle with all kinds of symbols – runes – on the floor of it. His burns and cuts had mostly healed by now and Daryl was yet again fascinated by how quickly magical medicine did its job.

Two days after they had set out to prepare for the ritual, they were ready to actually perform it. The necessary potion was brewed, the gem stones and crystals were placed on the summoning circle and the gleaming red phoenix feather lay in the middle. Daryl, Araminta and Harry were standing close to the wall, far away from the circle as Severus poured the potion over the feather, stepped back and began to chant in a language Daryl didn't recognize.

The air around them started to crackle as the lines of the circle were slowly traced by light and the static made his hair stand on end. A few minutes passed and the light became brighter until Daryl had to close his eyes. He saw an even brighter flash behind his closed lids, then Severus' chanting ceased and the light disappeared.

The brunet blinked his eyes back open and regarded the summoning circle. The chalk lines, crystals, gems and the phoenix feather were pitch-black, maybe charred and the circle was empty.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, most people's interest in this story seems to have waned, therefore I have decided to cut it shorter than initially planned. There will be one more chapter after this one.

„That's not what should've happened...," Araminta whispered faintly next to Daryl, her disbelieving gaze fixed on the empty magic circle, which seemed to be mocking them. They'd been apprehensive of the phoenix tears not working against the infection, but none of them had expected that Fawkes wouldn't appear in the first place.

"The ritual worked," Severus determined, scowling, as he leant down to pick up one of the pitch-black crystals. "There are only two explanations, either Fawkes is dead or he somehow resisted the summons. Each case is equally probable."

"We can try again, right? With another one?" Daryl inquired with a frown. Harry was outwardly calm, but the brunet felt the wizard's razor sharp claws digging through the leather of his west and pin-pricking his shoulder. The other man could play at being indifferent all he wanted, but Daryl knew better and wouldn't give up until they had no other choice.

"And which one do you propose? Like I said, phoenixes don't grow on trees." Severus sneered condescendingly. Daryl took a step forward in response, glaring right back.

"Boys, calm down! Arguing now doesn't help anyone," Araminta interrupted exasperatedly, drawing their attention. "Daryl and Harry brought back wands from Demelza's, some of them have a phoenix feather core. Can we repeat the ritual with one of those or does it have to be a feather from the phoenix you know?"

Daryl blinked in surprise at her, because he'd never mentioned the wands, but then he remembered that she also had some mind-reading mumbo jumbo going on, which was… actually kind of alarming. He ignored the witch's apologetic smile and turned towards Severus to await his verdict. The older man was pensively rubbing one fingertip over his lips, while perusing the remaining ritual items, which were set out on a small, round table in one corner of the room.

"A second ritual should be possible. It will be our last chance, however. Most of the items are relatively easy to procure, but we only have four more crystals on hand. They can only be purchased from goblins and as far as I know none of them are available anymore."

Daryl uttered a sigh of relief and disappeared to his room to fetch the wand bag. Upon returning he upended it until a few dozen boxes came tumbling out.

"There should be two with the feathers."

"Accio phoenix feather core wands," Severus enunciated, waving his wand, and at once two boxes sprang open and their content snapped into the brunet's free hand. He broke them without preamble and studied the emerging gold-red feathers.

"Indeed, these should work perfectly well. We can try again tomorrow morning."

Daryl reluctantly left the room and kept busy for the rest of the day. He would've preferred to try again immediately, but understood that Severus needed time preparing another magic circle for the ritual. At night, sleep evaded him and he ended up outside, pacing along the fence and smoking the pack of cigarettes he'd found in the jewelry store.

The brunet wasn't at his best the next morning, but he was functioning. It wasn't the first time he'd pulled an all-nighter, after all. The remains of the previous ritual had been replaced by white chalk lines, glistening gems and crystals. The feather resting in the center of the circle was more golden than red, but just as captivating.

The ritual commenced like the previous day. The potion was poured over the feather, Severus began to chant and after a few minutes of crackling static against their skin, a blinding light brightened the room.

When Daryl opened his eyes, he noticed that the circle was, yet again, pitch black and it looked like another failure to him, until he noticed the moving ball of fluff where the feather had been. It was red and gold, with a beak too big for its body and, to be absolutely honest, it was kind of ugly.

" _That's_ a phoenix?"

He went ignored by everyone, specially Harry who hopped off his shoulder and closer to the small chick. It chirped happily and met the merlin halfway, where it proceeded to bump its head against the bigger bird's chest.

"It's not _a_ phoenix," Severus mumbled astonished. "It's _Fawkes_. Apparently more than two wands have been crafted with his feathers as cores… and only Potter would be lucky enough to find them."

"Looks like he had a burning day recently, maybe even yesterday. That would explain why he didn't appear," Araminta chimed in. Instead of looking relieved that they had accomplished their goal after all, she looked uneasy. As if reading Daryl's thoughts, and she probably did, the blonde turned towards him with a frown.

"If he just had a burning day, his tears aren't potent enough. It's like putting out a blaze with a pipette full of water. It'll take a month or two until he's grown enough."

"So what? We'll just wait." Daryl really didn't see the problem.

Araminta's inscrutable gaze wandered to the center of the room, where Severus was currently explaining the situation to the little phoenix, which was still nuzzling into Harry's side.

"Let's hope we have that time."

* * *

The next few days were uneventful - Severus healed completely from his injuries, the morale was high when it became known that they might be capable of curing the occasional bite victim in the near future and Rick started to act a bit more relaxed.

That's when things went downhill again.

In the beginning Daryl didn't even notice or wrote it off as a figment of his imagination, but it quickly became apparent that Harry's health was declining. He was starting to blank out more and more often and his legs became warmer with every passing day. Apparently there remained enough human in an animagus' animal form to be affected by a walker bite, albeit more slowly.

Daryl was outside, leaning against a concrete wall in the darkness and just trying to breath, when he heard approaching footsteps. He squinted his eyes, but only managed to recognize who it was, when the person was standing in front of him.

"Harry?" The brunet pushed off the wall and stepped closer until their bodies almost touched. The wizard looked flushed and his skin was coated with sweat, a clear sign of the fever the other man was currently suffering through. "Ya shouldn't-"

"Maurice and Severus suggested a magical coma until Fawkes has grown enough," Harry interrupted. "And I decided to give it a try. It can't make the situation any worse," the brunet added as he cradled Daryl's cheek with his hand. "I didn't want to do it without talking with you…" And I don't know if I'll have the chance again, went unsaid but understood.

"I should've warned you beforehand that problems seem to find me," Harry mused with a wry grin, stroking along Daryl's jaw with the pad of his thumb. "I'm really sorry it turned out this way and… I'm really _really_ grateful that you went to the trouble of helping me and didn't run for the hills." The brunet dropped his forehead against Daryl's shoulder and fell silent for a moment. "I hope it- I-"

Swallowing thickly, Daryl grabbed the other man's shoulders and pushed him backwards until he could look into Harry's slightly fever hazed eyes.

"You'll wake up, alive 'n kickin' and I'll be there when ya do." And he would stubbornly think of his words as the truth until proven wrong.

The corners of Harry's lips curved upwards, not quite a smile, but not the same grim expression either. He leant forward and covered Daryl's lips with his own. It was nothing more than a peck, similar to their first kiss, but it nonetheless managed to sooth Daryl's frayed nerves.

"I'd like to kiss you some more," The wizard mumbled against Daryl's stubbled chin. "but I'm pretty sure I'm about to pass out."

Daryl's eyes widened. He quickly wrapped an arm around Harry waist to prevent him from falling in case the brunet's prediction came true and led him towards the closest door. During the first few steps Harry was helping along, though Daryl ended up bringing the brunet to the sickbay in a fireman's carry. Maurice and Severus were already waiting for them, both wearing identical frowns on their faces.

"Put him here," Severus directed, while pulling the stopper out of a vial containing a black liquid. Getting Harry to drink the concoction wasn't an easy job, but they somehow managed it and when it began to take effect, the brunet turned deathly pale and stopped breathing.

Daryl turned panicked eyes to the two wizards.

"It didn't work?"

"It did," Maurice, an older man with salt-and-pepper hair, assured. "This is as save as we can make him for now and if everything goes well we can wake him up when he's recovered. As with all artificial comas, things can go wrong, but let's hope it won't come to that."

Fawkes hopped off the bed frame and onto Harry's unmoving chest, where he started to chirp. The sound was a bit shrill, but Daryl felt the tight muscles in his shoulders loosen slightly as he sank into a chair next to the bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you all for your reviews! I've thought about prolonging the story after all, but in the end decided to finish this part of it. I do, however, have ideas for a sequel, which would go more into the relationship between our boys. Let's see how that goes.

The next few weeks dragged on and on.

Severus's injuries healed completely, Daryl went on supply runs almost daily or helped with the security and Harry slept on. Did it count as sleeping, when the person wasn't even breathing and looked dead? It was still freaking him out to be honest, but Daryl tried not to think about the workings of a magically induced comas too much.

A month passed and with the next one came a daily nerve-wrecking moment of anticipation. Each day Fawkes, whose fluffy down slowly gave way to glossy red and golden feathers, hopped onto Harry's chest and cried a few tears into the wizard's mouth. So far they hadn't worked.

The other man was, however, not his main concern for a change – at least momentarily. Upon returning from their supply run, Glenn and Clarice had apparently ended up in one of the containment rooms, because they'd portkeyed a person not belonging to the Sanctuary. It turned out to be-

"Merle?" Daryl was staring at the man in the cell, his brother, who didn't really look worse for wear except for the contraption attached to his right wrist. Instead of the hand he'd sawed off, Merle was pulling off a Captain Hook, though instead of a hook he had a blade. Daryl… didn't know what to feel or, well, what to say, too. He had been positive that his brother was still alive, but after the trip to Atlanta he'd honestly no longer believed that he'd see him ever again. A lot had happened in the last few months. He wasn't sure how Merle would fit into his life now. If he'd fit into the Sanctuary and what would happen if he didn't.

"Looks like you found a nice place, little bro," Merle stated while leering at Clarice, who was glaring back at him. "Officer Friendly set this place up? Could do without the bars, though. Let good ol' Merle outta here, yeah?"

"We found him in a town not too far from here," Glenn explained to Daryl, completely ignoring the older Dixon brother's ramblings. "He was trying to kidnap me for some reason, but Clarice stunned him, then we brought him here. We've already notified Severus. He should be here after checking on Harry."

And speaking of the devil, the older wizard rounded the corner with a scowl. Fawkes was absent, but that wasn't a big surprise. The phoenix tended to stay with Harry in the sick bay, warbling progressively melodious songs. He was slowly but surely becoming the mystical creature Daryl had imagined.

Severus studied Merle from head to toe and finally locked their gazes without so much as a by your leave. With every passing second, the man's expression darkened further, unsettling not only Daryl but Clarice and Glenn as well. Merle on the other hand had adopted a nasty glare.

"What? Ya got somethin' ta say to Merle, asshole?"

Severus disregarded him with a slightly raised eyebrow and turned towards the small group in front of the containment room. His face was expressionless again, but Daryl knew that the wizard didn't have good news to share. What had his brother done to get that kind of reaction from Severus?

"Apparently, we have a neighbor. Several miles from the Sanctuary there is a town called Woodbury. The people there are being led by a man known as the Governor, who robs and kills survivors to appropriate their resources… among other things. Also, the town's entertainment seems to be arena fights between humans and revenants."

The reactions to Severus' words ranged from disgust to outright horror, except for Merle who was gaping at the wizard.

"How'd ya-"

"As of yet, they aren't a threat to the Sanctuary, simply because they do not know of it and cannot get close to it. The matter requires attention however," Severus went on, turning to Daryl. "As for your brother. Disregarding his actions in the name of the Governor, he seems to be ill fitting for the Sanctuary. I-"

"Severus, Daryl!"

As one, the group turned to the newcomer, who was running up to them with a wide-eyed expression on his face. When he stopped next to Glenn, he gasped for breath, but quickly recovered and beamed at them.

"It worked! I don't know if it was a cumulative thing or if Fawkes' tears are finally potent enough, but it worked! The contamination is gone, we just have to wake him up."

Daryl was gone long before Maurice had finished his second sentence and he didn't even hear his brother shouting after him. The brunet was single-mindedly focused on getting to Harry as quickly as possible and nobody would stop or delay him. The people walking through the corridors seemed to sense that and jumped prudently out of his way. Upon reaching the sick bay, Daryl strode to the bed next to the barred window.

The wizard still looked too pale and unmoving, but Daryl trusted in Maurice's medical knowledge. If he claimed that Harry was healed, he'd belief him. He took the vial with the pre-prepared potion that Fawkes was holding in his beak and sat down on the edge of the mattress. Daryl pulled out the stopper and carefully rubbed Harry's throat after administering the antidote for the Draught of Living Death.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Severus, Maurice and several other people joined him in his waiting with bated breath.

Then, when his anxiety reached its peak, Harry's eyelids began to flutter, until they finally opened. The wizard blinked, still dazed, but his skin slowly regained color, though the flush and clamminess of the fever was thankfully absent.

"D'ryl?"

"I promised I'd be here when ya woke up, right?" Daryl stated with a relieved upwards twitch of his lips. He overheard Araminta ushering everyone else out of the room, but didn't pay much attention to the proceedings on the other side of the room.

Smiling back, Harry inched his hand towards Daryl's and was met halfway. Their fingers intertwined above the blanket and squeezed reassuringly. Fawkes, who had refused to leave, hopped onto the mattress and trilled, before nudging the wizard's cheek with his beak in greeting.

"Hey Fawkes, looks like you've saved my life.  _Again_. Thank you _._ " The brunet raised his free hand and gently scratched along the phoenix' soft breast feathers, something they both shared a fondness of.

"Been about a month. This guy here barely left yer side," Daryl remarked, watching them. He could already picture Harry turning into his animagus form and the two birds spending some time in the air. It would do the wizard some good to figuratively and literally spread his wings after the last few weeks.

"Bet you were here, too, whenever you could," Harry mumbled with a smile that was equal parts fond and apologetic. "Did anything noteworthy happen while I was… out of commission?"

Daryl opened his mouth to mention the miraculous appearance of his brother, but quickly snapped it shut again, before a word could leave his lips. Instead he leant down and pressed a kiss to the other man's tempting lips.

"Nothin' that can't wait until yer back on yer feet."

Harry tried to protest, but Daryl just kissed him again and again and again until the wizard relaxed back into the mattress, splayed his fingers across Daryl's neck and kissed back in surrender.

Daryl smugly grinned against the brunet's lips.

* * *

"Maybe I shouldn't-"

Severus rolled his eyes for the nth time that day. "Potter,  _go_."

"But-"

"We can deal another few weeks without you. Woodbury won't find us that quickly and even then, we're more than equipped to handle them even when you're absent. If anyone gets bit, we still have the extra tears from Fawkes. Go and find the rest of your trio. This place will still stand when you get back."

Reluctantly, Harry nodded and carefully refrained from hugging the other man in gratitude. Severus would probably get a heart attack if he tried. The brunet shrank his bag with his new blackthorn and horned serpent horn wand and attached it to his belt, before going over to Daryl, Merle and Fawkes, who were waiting for him. The latter was relentlessly pecking and nipping the older Dixon brother, who just couldn't resist badgering and insulting the phoenix. Merle would be joining them on their trip to Australia to be with his brother and to keep him far away from the members of the Sanctuary for now.

He wrapped an arm around Daryl's waist and waited for Fawkes to stop getting revenge on Merle to grip one of the phoenix' legs. Smiling, he waved at the group sending them off, then nodded at Fawkes, who had fortunately decided to stay with Harry for now.

"Let's go."


End file.
